SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Two men were charged with human smuggling after they led border patrol agents on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash Tuesday afternoon.
According to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, border patrol agents surveilling the area near Donovan State Prison and the George Bailey Detention Center noticed a group of eight to ten people get into a large SUV around 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Other agents tried to conduct a traffic stop on the SUV, but the driver took off, eventually hitting speeds as high as 90 mph in the ensuing chase.
The driver, identified as 30-year-old Sergio Cervantes-Lopez of San Diego, rammed into a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle and backed into a by-stander's pick-up truck before running a red light and crashing into another bystander's SUV, the press release says.
The suspect vehicle flipped during the crash, and Cervantes-Lopez tried to run away, but he was quickly stopped by law enforcement.
Eight other people were in the SUV with Cervantes-Lopez when the crash happened. The release says a follow-up investigation showed that one of them, 19-year-old Remigio Sosa-Laez of Mexico, was Cervantes-Lopez's accomplice.
The state attorney's office says Sosa-Laez had guided the group of undocumented immigrants on foot across the border.
"Two of the passengers stated that they feared for their lives during the chase," the press release says.
Both Cervantes-Lopez and Sosa-Laez were arrested after the crash and are awaiting their first court appearance.
U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman says people gamble with their lives when they trust a smuggler.
"Smugglers don't care about the health and safety of their cargo," Grossman says.
Aaron Heitke, the Sector Chief for San Diego's U.S. Border Patrol, agrees with Grossman.
“Smugglers threaten the health and safety of our citizens and those migrants in their care, when they engage in these dangerous-senseless tactics,” Heitke says.
Both suspects face charges of transportation of illegal aliens and bringing in aliens without presentation.
